


Trapped

by DangerRollins



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Angst, Bonding, Gen, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-10
Updated: 2018-02-10
Packaged: 2019-03-16 08:27:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13632504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DangerRollins/pseuds/DangerRollins
Summary: Trapped in a car and bored out of their minds, Carol and Negan talk about their V-Day experiences.





	Trapped

**Author's Note:**

> I need some Carol and Negan scenes in the show. I just feel like she'd kick his ass. I want that.

Carol sprinted, as fast as her legs would carry her, across the large field of tall, thick grass. The heavy bag on her back, filled with canned goods and medicine, her heavy winter clothes, and the tall grass all did their best to slow her down, but she fought with as much force as she could muster up and kept going. Negan was ahead of her by several feet, his long legs carrying him farther, faster, and her heart thudded rapidly against her chest. She didn't know if she should be more worried about the fact that there was a humongous herd of walkers following closely behind them or the fact that Negan was ahead of her by a significant distance. She worried that he'd take off the moment he stepped foot in the car they'd come in, leaving her without a way to get back home, leaving her to fight off a gigantic herd that even she couldn't handle on her own.

She and Negan had been sent on this run by Rick, and Carol had been more than skeptical at first, but Rick reassured her that she'd be safe with Negan. He'd been on a ton of runs with other Alexandrians before and they'd all come back fine. He wasn't the same guy he was three or so years ago when he'd first entered their lives. He was different now. That's what Rick had said, and that's what Negan had nodded along with, but Carol still kept a close eye on him.

She was waiting for the moment he decided to strike, waiting for the moment he left her alone to deal with whatever problems would arise, but he didn't. So far, he'd had her back. So far, he'd still managed to seem like an annoying, big mouthed, snarky asshole, but a trustworthy one, at least.

She wondered if he'd show his true colors now.

Carol's breathing was jagged and could only be described as wheezing at this point. Her legs burned, and her ankle hurt on the count of her falling off a large truck earlier when trying to get a better view of the place they'd been heading to, and she kept going despite the pain, but she wondered how much longer she could keep up.

The snarls and the disgusting stench that followed the walking dead caught up with her quickly, and when she turned to get a look, she noticed that a stray few of the dead had managed to get quite close, their arms reaching out to grab her. She turned forward again quickly and pushed herself further. She contemplated dropping her bag so that she could move faster, but she was determined to keep going with it.

She ran quicker and quicker, chanting the words 'You're gonna make it' in her head, and after what seemed like centuries, the sight of their car was visible from where she was. Negan was halfway to it, and if she ran just a little faster, just a little bit more, she'd be there as well.

So, she sped up, not sure how it was even possible, but she did.

By the time she made it down the hill and off the field, Negan was already in the car. Instead of speeding off, however, he was pushing the passenger side door open and gesturing for her to get in.

She dove in head first as soon as she was close enough, quickly dragging her feet in and then slamming the door closed behind her. She and Negan took a few moments to catch their breath. Negan tried to start the car as he noticed the walkers inching their way down the hill and toward the car, and he could swear he'd never seen them move so fast.

"What the fuck?" He mumbled after a moment. "WHAT THE FUCK?!"

"What?" Carol yelled.

"It's not starting!" He hissed, rubbing his face in frustration. Of fucking course, the car he'd taken on at least seven runs, now was refusing to fucking start right when they really needed it to. Of course. "Shit!"

Carol ran her fingers through her hair and put her elbows on her knees before putting her head between her legs. There was nothing they could do now except for sit and wait, and hope that they'd make it out alive, though it seemed unlikely. That herd was huge, probably around 100 to 200 walkers, from what they'd seen, and they wouldn't go away until they got what they wanted, which was human guts to chew on.

Negan continued to try to get the car to start until the bodies of dozens of walkers were covering the windows. He threw his head back and cursed loudly before digging through the bag he kept in the car. He always kept blankets in there. At least they'd be able to cover the windows.

After they'd taped the sheets and blankets up, they sat in frustrated silence for a while, listening as the dead groaned and scratched at the car, snarling nonstop, refusing to leave. It didn't take long for Negan to start talking again. If he had to listen to that shit for more than a few minutes at a time, he'd lose his mind, no doubt.

He knew Carol probably didn't feel like talking or even just listening to him blab on and on about nothing, but he didn't care. She'd just have to suffer.

He glanced around the car for a moment, trying to figure out how to start up a conversation. It didn't take long for his eyes to land on one of the sheets he'd put up. It had hearts covering it.

"I miss Valentine's Day, do you?" He questioned.

Carol was startled by the question, not expecting Negan's deep voice to interrupt the intense silence that'd spread throughout the car, other than the sounds of the undead, of course. She turned to face him and narrowed her eyes. "What?" "Valentine's Day...I know it's been a while, but it ain't been **that** long!" He smirked. "Do you miss it?"

"No." She mumbled before turning away from him again. He frowned. "Why not?"

"I never had a good one."

"Really?" He let out a low whistle. It was then that it occurred to him that he knew nothing about Carol; not the past Carol or the present. All he knew was that she was a tough lady who got shit done, and that was enough for him to somewhat respect her. He hadn't ever made the effort to get to know her or anyone else that wasn't necessarily of importance to him, for that matter. Socializing wasn't exactly a priority in the apocalypse. "Tell me what your worst one was."

"Negan, why the hell would I waste my time talking about something so...Stupid?" She was legitimately baffled. This man had terrorized her group years ago and was just now making nice, and he'd never even glanced in her general direction unless she was standing near someone he'd been threatening, and now he wanted to know what her worst Valentine's Day experience was? He expected her to just...Sit here and talk to him about something that occurred years ago when they needed to be figuring out a way to get themselves out of this mess alive?

She liked him better when he was swinging his bat around, threatening to take people's lives.

"We don't have a damn thing to do except for sit and wait this shit out. Until these fuckers are distracted by some other unfortunate human's flesh, or somebody finds us, we're trapped here. I'm not gonna sit in silence for however long it takes for them to leave. We have to talk about something." He shrugged.

Carol huffed and folded her arms over her chest before leaning back in her seat. She looked away from him and narrowed her eyes. She didn't know why, but she started talking.

"I was married to a guy named Ed before all this...He didn't last too long after the outbreak. Got bit." She mumbled.

"I'm sorry," Negan muttered.

"I'm not," Carol said quickly. "He was abusive, and he was a perv. I was weak when I was with him. Who I am today...If he was still alive I'd be dead. I'd be dead because when he was here I did everything he said and I was too busy trying to please him to take care of myself. I wouldn't have learned to do anything for myself, I wouldn't have been able to think for myself. I would've died early on if he hadn't." She shook her head. She still thought of him sometimes, of course, she did. She tried her best to think mostly of the few good times they had, the ones they'd had when they'd first gotten married. If she began to miss him too much, she always allowed her mind to drift back to how he was during their last few years together. She used to feel bad for thinking it, but now she didn't. She was glad he was dead. He was dead and that's why she was alive.

"Anyways, three years before the outbreak, we had a particularly rough Valentine's Day. I had a daughter too...She was sick." Carol squeezed her eyes shut as she thought about Sophia. She still missed her baby girl every day. "She had the flu and it was bad. She felt terrible! Anytime she got sick, she'd always turn into a two-year-old child." She laughed. "She cried nonstop, which didn't help anything because she was losing valuable fluids. She wouldn't eat, she wouldn't go to sleep, and she didn't want me to leave her side. I didn't for a while. Ed was at work for most of the day, but when he got back I had to go make him something to eat. He was selfish, didn't care that she was sick. He wanted the whole shebang since it was V-Day. He wanted me to make him a romantic dinner, wanted us to sit at the kitchen table and eat it together, candle lights, red wine, all that. Even wanted me to change into a nice dress." She rolled her eyes. "I did it. I got changed, I cooked, I set up the table. I made it look perfect. He wanted to dance in the kitchen while we were waiting for the food to get done, and he wouldn't listen to me when I told him I didn't have the time. Sophia was still crying, still sick. He wouldn't even check on her for me. Came back to bite him in the ass though. I finally got him to check on her and she ended up throwing up all over him. Then when he came back, I was worried about making sure she was okay so I went to her room and while I was in there, the stove caught on fire. He burned his hand trying to put it out." She smirked. "It was chaotic, not a good day, but at least he got what was coming to him."

Negan chuckled along with her, picturing the asshole with vomit covering him from head to toe and a terribly painful burn on his hand.

"It was the worst Valentine's Day I had, but I guess it wasn't so bad. After that night, the burn hurt him so bad that he didn't hit for a whole week after that." She sighed.

"I'm glad he's dead." Negan muttered bitterly, although he almost wished the guy was still alive. He'd beat his ass until his own fist fell off if he had the chance. There was nothing worse than a guy who was cowardly enough to beat on a woman.

"What about you? What was your worst one?"

Negan sighed as he brought a hand up to his face, scratching his stubble absentmindedly. "I had a wife named Lucille. She had cancer and it killed her...I don't know which one was worse, to be honest. I spent one Valentine's Day sitting by her hospital bed, begging her to get better, arguing with her over some dumb shit that didn't fucking matter at all at the time, being an absolute asshole for no reason other than that I needed to be because it was the only thing that was normal anymore. The only thing either of us knew to expect anymore...I spent the V-Day after she died pretending she wasn't dead. I was...I was in shock. In denial. I refused to believe she was gone; It just didn't seem real to me. I blew $1000 dollars buying her flowers, chocolates, stuffed animals, even a pretty dress. I made dinner reservations at a really fancy restaurant that she would've never been caught dead in even if she'd been alive. I went there and I sat and waited for her to walk through the door...I was there for six hours, just waiting. Every time the door opened, I got so excited. Until I saw that it wasn't her, obviously. I drank a lot of wine that night. Shouldn't have done that." He chuckled, but it seemed more like a wince to Carol. "My waiter asked if I was being stood up and I said that I wished I was. Then I started sobbing in the middle of the damn restaurant. He tried to get me to calm down, tried to get me to leave, but I couldn't. Not until she walked through that door...And then she did."

Carol's eyes widened at this and Negan chuckled, shaking his head. "Not literally. There was a woman—She looked a lot like Lucille. Maybe it's because my vision was blurry, maybe because of the alcohol, maybe I just needed to see someone who at least **looked** like her or else I would still be sitting in that restaurant right fucking now, waiting, and the universe knew that so it sent that woman in...I got up, I ran to her, I made a fucking fool of myself. I hugged the shit out of her, cried on her shoulder, and said my goodbyes to Lucille to her. She let me. She probably thought I was crazy, I know she did. Everyone in there did, even me. They thought I was a crazy old homeless man on drugs, that's what I looked like. I didn't care. I needed to say goodbye. Lucille died in the hospital while I wasn't there. She died exactly twenty-seven minutes after I left, twenty-seven minutes after we had a huge fight. I...I had sex with a woman before going to visit her and she knew it. She was willing to accept it, but I wasn't willing to even admit it. I wasn't slick and she wasn't dumb and I refused to acknowledge the fact that she knew and that's what pissed her off: That I was lying to her face and expecting her to believe it as if she was stupid. 'I'm terminally ill, not brain dead.' That's what she said to me...Anyways, I left to go screw another girl and she passed."

He finished, letting out a heavy breath as he stared down at his thumbs, playing with them to give himself something to do. He hadn't ever told anyone that. He'd never said it out loud.

"That's...That...Sucks."

"Yeah." He laughed. "You've really never had a good Valentine's Day?"

"No. I've only dated three people other than Ed in my life and all the relationships ended before Valentine's Day could roll around. In fact, I seemed to always get dumped just a week or two before the holiday, so I almost always spent the day crying over what could've been. Then with Ed, even when he treated me well, he always spent Valentine's Day working. Except for one time. We had a double date with some of his friends, but it wasn't romantic or even enjoyable for me. His friends spent the whole time dry humping each other and he spent the whole night trying to get a peek at what was going on under her shirt."

"Guy was a real shithead, huh?" He grunted.

"He was."

"I'm sorry."

Carol shrugged a little. "I have more to worry about than my V-Day mishaps...Your best experience?"

"I'm not sure you wanna hear about mine." Negan grinned. "If you don't approve of dry humping, you certainly won't approve of what me and Lucille got up to on one particularly kinky Valentine's Day."

"Say no more," Carol muttered.


End file.
